Featured Stories

Wildflower Update +

Without rain there can be no wildflowers, so we here at Deathvalley.com want to thank Ms. Schultz for sharing a photo she caught of a rare full double rainbow last October on highway 190 (full size below). We are fairly certain that this rainbow was part of the storm that caused so much havock and yet is directly responsible for this year's superbloom.
Read More

Wildflowers Spotted in Death Valley +

Death Valley Natural History Association has reported one of the earliest blooms in recent memory in Death Valley National Park. Heavy early rains (and the flooding it has caused) seems to have put the delicate and ephemeral desert wildflowers on show as they take advantage of the record moisture. Peak viewing generally occurs in late-February through mid-April, but wildflowers can be seen in the higher elevations of the even in…Read More

Severe Storm Causes Road Closures +

In an ominous preamble to the expected El Nino this year across California, a series of severe thunderstorms passed over Death Valley National Park, knocking down power lines and stranding park rangers and visitors alike in the Ubehebe Crater in the north end of the park. Feet of mud has been reported at Scotty’s Castle Visitor Center, the exterior of which is surrounded by mud and debris. Roads across the…Read More

Mystery of The Death Valley Sailing Stones Solved +

In a remote corner of Death Valley National park, cradled in between the Cottonwood and Last Chance mountain ranges, Racetrack Playa presents an intriguing natural history mystery. Here, slabs of dolomite and syenite, ranging in size from a couple of pounds up to 1,000 pounds, leave visible tracks as they slide across the playa surface, without any sign of human or animal intervention. For decades visitors and scientists alike have…Read More

1

Editor's Pick

Sights of Wildrose Canyon Road

Darwin Falls

Ubehebe Crater & The Racetrack

This beautiful drive through the Panamint high-country winds through dozens of vista points, ghost towns, forests, and more!

The National Park Service is warning visitors about the dangers of remote travel in extreme heat after a string of recent emergencies, one of them fatal, in Death Valley National Park.

On Thursday, park visitors found a man dead on Harry Wade Road, a remote, 30-mile dirt track that runs into the south end of Death Valley from California Route 127.

The man’s name and age were not released. His motorcycle was parked nearby, upright and in working condition.

His death is under investigation by the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office, though heat may have been a factor. Thursday’s high was 118 degrees at the park’s official weather station in Furnace Creek, California, about 125 miles west of Las Vegas.

On June 20, 1965, four high school buddies set out to a remote desert location about 90-miles northwest of Las Vegas. Their intent: to joy dive into a deep, geothermal abyss called Devils Hole. Sadly, two of the young men would never remerge from this mysterious "fossil water" portal.

Their publicized disappearance set into motion a series of revelations concerning deep time, interconnected hydrogeological sublimity, time-traveling Indigenous Shamans, distant seismic events, genetic conundrums, capitalistic greed and consequent environmental exploitation. At the center of this saga is a tiny endangered fish at the threshold of existence.

DEATH VALLEY, CA –Badwater Road is now fully open, connecting Death Valley National Park to the gateway town of Shoshone, California. Work remains to be done in other areas of the park to repair road and infrastructure damage caused by flash floods last October.

Several storms between October 4 and October 18, 2015 caused extreme flash flood damage. In one location, 2.7 inches of rain fell in just 5 hours –which exceeds Death Valley's average precipitation for a year.

Badwater Road is the main paved road in the southern end of Death Valley National Park. National Park Service road crews cleared large amounts of dirt and rock to open the northern section of Badwater Road by early November, providing access to popular destinations such as Badwater Basin, the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below sea level.

The section of Badwater Road near Jubilee Pass was extensively damaged, with about a half mile of pavement and road base washed away in multiple sections of the road. Federal Highway Administration funded the repair work.William Kanayan Construction started repairs in May, under a contract with Federal Highway Administration. Much of the work was done at night so that temperatures would be cooler.